The present invention relates to a selective pager receiver and, more particularly, to a selective pager receiver for informing reception by using, e.g., an audible tone, light emission, vibration, and display.
Upon receiving a call, a conventional radio selective pager receiver of this type performs a reception informing function by using, e.g., an audible tone, light emission, vibration, and display. In order to reset these reception informing functions, the receiver has an auto reset function for automatically performing resetting and a manual reset function by which a user performs resetting by depressing a reset button. Although a user can arbitrarily select either of the two reset functions, a selected reset function is unconditionally set up all of the various reception informing functions described above.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional selective pager receiver. Referring to FIG. 1, a radio signal received by an antenna 1 is amplified and demodulated by a radio unit 2. This demodulated signal is shaped by a waveform shaper 3 into a waveform which can be read by a decoder 4. The decoder 4 produces reference clocks by means of a quartz oscillator 5 and compares a receiver call number stored in a memory unit 6 with the signal from the waveform shaper 3 in synchronism with the received signal. If the two numbers coincide with each other as a result of this comparison, the decoder 4 determines that the pager receiver is called and sends a signal to a call informing function control unit 7 and an auto reset timer 8. The auto reset timer 8 is activated by the signal from the decoder 4 and supplies a signal to the control unit 7 if a predetermined duration has elapsed. The timer 8 is activated by a signal from the control unit 7 as well as that from the decoder 4. The call informing function control unit 7 is connected to an auto reset timer 8, a mode switch 9 for performing switching between an auto reset mode and a manual reset mode of call informing functions, a reset switch 10 for manual reset which operates upon depression of a reset button, and a call informing function unit 19. The call informing function unit 19 is constituted by an audible tone amplifier 12, a loudspeaker 13, an LCD driver 14, a display device 15, a vibrator driver 16, a vibrator 17, and an LED 18.
The call informing function control unit 7 receives the signal from the decoder 4 and sends an audible tone signal to the audible tone amplifier 12 to drive the loudspeaker 13. At the same time, the call informing function control unit 7 drives the LCD 15 via the LCD driver 14 to display information indicating that this receiver is called, drives the vibrator 17 via the vibrator driver 16, and causes the LED 18 to emit light, thereby informing a user of the call for his or her receiver. The call informing function control unit 7 may drive some of the informing function set by a switch as not shown as well as all of them.
As shown in a flow chart of FIG. 2, the call informing function control unit 7 checks the state of the mode switch 9 (step S301). When the auto reset mode is set, the call informing function control unit 7 drives the informing function and simultaneously activates the auto reset timer 8. When a predetermined duration has elapsed, the call informing function control unit 7 stops the informing functions in response to a signal from the auto reset timer 8 (step S302). When the reset switch 10 is depressed during execution of the call informing functions, the call informing functions are stopped regardless of whether the manual reset mode or the auto reset mode is set (steps S303 and S304).
The conventional selective pager receiver described above has the following problems. That is, setting of the manual reset and the auto reset of the reception informing function cannot be independently performed for individual reception informing functions. Therefore, when a reception informing function which consumes a large amount of current, such as a vibration reception informing operation using the vibrator or a display reception informing operation using the LCD is performed in case that the manual reset function is set, this informing operation continues until a user depresses the reset switch to stop the informing operation. For this reason, if a user is unaware of the operation of the reception informing function or if he or she is not present near the pager receiver, a current is wastefully consumed to shorten the service life of a battery. In addition, the reset function cannot be selected in accordance with the degree of emergency of a call. Therefore, even in the event of an emergency call, the call is reset when a predetermined duration has elapsed if the auto reset function is set.